The sun is awfully bright in Hawaii so we did get mom some of those clip on shades for her glasses. It was OK for a while, but then she complained that it was too heavy and bothersome. She's been noticing the transition glasses that Art and I both have now and started to really like the idea of her glasses being able to darken every time she's out in bright light.
We did do quite a bit of price checking this time. The estimate we got from her optometrist was $478.00 for UV protection, scratch proof, transition, bifocals.
Forget Costco because I'm no longer convinced they are the absolute best place to buy glasses AND you have to be the actual card holder!
Next stop was Kaiser Permanente's optician. Their price for about the same thing was $309.00 + tax because they were having a $100. off of the frames promotion for April.
Art and I then checked Sam's Club's Optical Center in Pearl City. They had a frame that might work for mom so we brought her in. While we were deciding which one to try on, Alex came over. He blew me away! He started talking Japanese to mom and I'm embarrassed to say he could speak the language much, much better than me. Yikes! It's not often I hear young people in Hawaii able to speak fluent Japanese. He had mom at ease and laughing for the entire session. She smiled at me later and said his Japanese is perfect. Yeah...yeah... I know. Shock of shocks! We learned that Alex's wife is from Sendai also. (We don't know any other people from Sendai in Hawaii other than relatives.) Wow! I asked him how he got so good at speaking Japanese. He said it was from watching Japanese dramas. Ummm... no... I don't think that's it. I watch those dramas occasionally, too and my Japanese is not nearly as perfect as his. OK, OK, my Japanese is pretty crappy. Ah well...
Aside from his ability to speak Japanese, he was also very knowledgeable about glasses. Mom's glasses with a little better lens material cost $302 + tax.
Next time I need glasses, I'm going to see Alex!
POSTSCRIPT: Alas! Mom's been wearing those Sam's Club glasses and is having some difficulty getting used to them. The bifocal line is a bit higher than her other glasses and is causing her difficulty when she gardens. I'm trying to find out if there's any sort of warranty or correction or whatever. I e-mailed Alex, but haven't heard back yet. We'll see.
